I get dozens of great comments to all the videorecipes that I post on my Italian Food Boss YouTube channel, but recently one of them really stood out for me:
“I had no idea how to cook pasta till I started watching your videos many months ago. I didn’t even know how to use olive oil but now I have every type of pasta in my cabinet made by Barilla and I use them all. My favourite is the penne. Thanks again Italian Food Boss”
Thank you, my friend! I shamelessly admit these comments really make me happy. Such messages give me the feeling that I’m truly adding value to other people’s lives, simply by demonstrating how to cook Italian food – by encouraging people to take “kitchen action”.
What cooking is all about
Cooking meals which I used to eat all the time while growing up in Italy, has a therapeutic function for me. Cooking this food brings me back memories of my childhood (how beautiful it was to grow up in the South of Italy!), it relaxes me, it makes me happy because I’m able to offer great food made with love (the secret ingredient of all my cooking!) to my family.
Also, admittedly, it excites me because – all things equal – I’m a hungry pig who simply loves his nice meals! 🙂
Cooking is, simply put, one of the most enjoyable creative outlets of mine and if, at the same time, I can entertain my physical and virtual friends… I’m doubly happy!
And what works for me, may certainly work for you too! One of my firmest believes is that what we do with our bodies can change the way our minds think, feel and perceive.
I know what you are thinking now… “Italian Food Boss, are you trying to cook here or to become some sort of new age guru?!”
None of that, my friend. I’m just trying to explain that finding a rewarding activity which keeps your mind and heart focused, providing joy to the people around you (yes, that’s what cooking does!), can influence your thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of the world around you.
Cooking makes us feel happy. Cooking Italian food (the best of the best), well… it must make us feel even happier!
Some of you may be aware that I’m lucky enough to be in a day-job career that, over the years, has allowed me to travel quite a bit. I’ve personally lived in over 10 countries across all continents in the last decade. While getting in touch with different cultures, lifestyles, habits has been truly enriching, some things inside are hard to change: one of them is definitely my love for Italian food.
Wherever I lived outside of Italy, I’ve been seeing my most favourite meals being butchered by mediocre cooks, offered to clients at fake Italian restaurants simply because, just like Dolce & Gabbana, Ferrari and AC Milan, “Italian food” is a brand that sells easily.
As an Italian, I’ve always found this to be unacceptable: imagine the average American person who never flew to Italy but has been eating all his/her life at Olive Garden or something like that… this guy ends up thinking it’s actually legit to use cream in the Carbonara pasta! What a sacrilege! (by the way, if you are interested in discovering how to actually make a Carbonara, have a look at this video).
So, I decided to take action and show the world how it’s really done.
I’m not a professional cook, and my plan to overcome the lack of a formal culinary education is through authentic passion, through the obsession with making the greatest food I can for my wife and daughter! And, of course, for all of you that want to be part of this process too.
If you’re keen, check my YouTube channel. Subscribe to it and to this website: jump on this Italian food ride with me!
© Italian Food BossÂ